Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure

This fascinating look into a volcano created time capsule of life in the Roman Empire provided this reviewer a strange kind of therapy. Because the event happened so fast everything in the Roman Town of Herculaneum was left exactly as it was when the earth quake followed by the fast moving flood of thick pyroclastic waves swept over and buried the entire town and many of it's inhabitants. Buried deep under a volcanic matrix and ash the locations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and other small towns were forgotten, new towns and villages were built atop the ruins and every hundred years or so Vesuvius erupted again burying Herculaneum deeper as well as some of the new communities built above them. The last eruption occurred in 1944 before the volcano once more assumed a mask of harmlessness. It's apparent that after both Pompeii and Herculaneum are totally excavated and studied that they will again be buried in yet another eruption of the nearby mountain. In Herculaneum, the town has been slowly, painstakingly freed from the rock-hard casings entombing it using picks, drills and finally soft brushes. But it was built between two streams flowing from the volcano and will once more be the low point in the path of the next pyroclastic and/or lava flows. Since the Italian Government doesn't have the funds to properly protect and excavate most of Herculaneum that is still encased under 65 to 100 feet of volcanic rock, it may be best that it isn't even uncovered and instead is saved another few thousand years for future, and wiser archeologists to uncover and marvel at. The town really is amazing. Ironically, the pyroclastic flow, unlike lava, didn't destroy everything it touched. Food, fruits, ropes, fish nets, wooden furniture, cloth, even a private library of 1800 papyrus scrolls of books and plays survived. In the 1980's skeletons were found on what was originally the community's beach, but is now 500 yards inland. Sea level is now 13 feet higher than the beach of 2,000 years ago (I wonder how that squares with Global Warming theories?) and the skeletons of unsuccessful fleeing residents of Herculaneum were accidentally discovered when a drainage system was being built. Since Roman's practiced cremation, these dozens of complete skeletons have provided archeologists with their first look at the health of the average Roman during the Roman Empire. One of the skeletons was that of a soldier complete with his armor, sword and his carpenter tools attached to his belt. Roman Legionnaires were also required to be skilled craftsman as well as soldiers. Roman men averaged 5'7" and women of the time averaged 5' 1 and 1/2" in height and are two obvious examples of the kind of information the skeletons provided today's experts. Teeth were in excellent shape probably because of the lack of sugar in the average Roman diet (they preferred honey). Lead poisoning was not a major problem as many experts have postulated. Herculaneum is a treasure trove of history. Jewelry, household items of all kinds including toys, wooden furniture, art works, statues, books, architecture, even the uneaten food left on tables at meal time was encased and preserved for the future historians. I'm not an expert in architecture but as I read this book I could see the history of architecture unfolding before my eyes. It wasn't difficult to see how in the future the contemporary world around us will fit into the continuing development pattern as well. Will archeologists of the future be digging up our local Malls and trying to picture our civilization through their reconstruction? Reading this book provided this reviewer with a new prospective on history. It freed the mind from worry about America's current political and economic problems because it puts them in their proper place. They are only a blip in the history of the world. This book is so well written that the Roman Town of Herculaneum comes alive for the reader. It's possible to visualize its citizens and slaves going about their daily lives as if one was hovering over them in an invisible time traveling observation bubble. And this book definitely confirms that the Romans were a very sexy and erotic civilization. They liked their fleshly pleasures. They were also the cleanest of the early western civilizations. Roman baths were social centers of the population and individual homes had running water and constantly flushing latrines. This book is a wonderful, very enlightening read. It's more like fiction, but the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

If you’re interested in the artifacts left in the wake of the Vesuvius eruption, I recommend this book. Also, the book as a physical object has also stood the test of time. Made of excellent materials, my copy at least seems brand new.

I have several books on Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was by far the best of the bunch. I know quite a bit about this fallen city, but I still learned many new things, such as that there were skeletons in the baths where people had climbed onto the shelf presumably to escape whatever was rising from the floor. I especially enjoyed reading about what items were found in which houses. I would love to have read this book just before either of my two visits to this amazing site, underlining the specific bits for referral during my visit. Then to step into the room or house and envisage the items she describes as having been present. It was easy to read and very interesting. Can't recommend it highly enough. It has a lot of photographs and they are overall very interesting, even if in black and white.

Good condition, fast delivery.

not as expected. there were pictures but they were all in black and white.

Herculaneum comes alive with this book. It's more than a description of the archaelogical site. It's a sensitive and imaginative account of what life would have been like and what was going on when the volcano errupted. The prose style is crisp and readable. Pictures are only black and white. Some are blurry. But it's not a site guide. Highly recommended.

Besides the usual detail related to the uncovering, this author does an excellent job of tieing the structures to the actual life of the citizens of Herculaneum prior to the envelopement. For example, using discovered documents he has a chapter describing the lawsuit described in those documents.

Well written but I had expected a more pictorial resource that I could use with my senior classes.

Ho acquistato questo testo perché parte di un esame universitario di archeologia. Non si tratta di un testo di narrativa, ma più che altro di un manuale: sono presenti molte planimetrie delle case della città, con una descrizione dettagliata della struttura e delle decorazioni.Non lo ritengo un testo adatto a chi voglia avere un'idea generale di Ercolano in epoca romana, ma piuttosto indicato invece per quelle persone che vorrebbero una conoscenza approfondita dell'arte e dell'architettura. In ogni caso, le illustrazioni sono davvero degne di nota, alcune sono a colori (come quella in copertina) e le descrizioni sono davvero impeccabili. L'ho tenuto nella mia libreria anche dopo l'esame, è davvero un libro grazioso. La lingua è inglese, ma è scritto in modo semplice e lineare. Spedizione rapida e libro in perfette condizioni. L'ho fatto ricoprire con la copertina trasparente perché ci tengo molto, tanto è bello.

Very informative and easy to read book. Bought as I will be taking a trip to Herculaneum in July.

A brilliant book. It gives clear descriptions of Herculaneum from all angles - the buildings by name and situations, the way of life, it's inhabitants- all social groups, how the disaster happened and the evidence that remains etc. It is very concise and contains a variety of photographs of aspects of Herculaneum - black and white but very clear.

One of the most interesting and comprehensive books on Herculaneum that I have read.

I bought this book to learn more about the site after I had visited Herculaneum, which was fine as this is not really a visitors pocket guide ( it does not contain a clear, practical layout plan ! ) .But it is a good interesting read, containing lots of interesting info' about the town and it's context in the Roman times, but it is worthwhile for the description and stories of the individual properties excuvated so far, a book that would be a great companion before a visit to this fascinating place.